Cholita Wrestling!

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The modern day use of the name Chola and Cholita in Bolivia applies to women dressed in traditional clothing which includes a massive skirt with petticoats, a blouse and shawl or blanket all topped off with a bowler hat. So basically I went with a bunch of people from the hostel that I had made friends with to watch traditional Bolivian women WRESTLE!

La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, is situated at 3600m altitude, in a valley. The wrestling is located at the top of one of the surrounding mountains, so as well as having a terrifying bus ride up a the side of a mountain, we also had some amazing sprawling city views.

The wrestling itself is located in a local community sports centre, outside of which is a carnival atmosphere with a band, market stalls, street food and the hustle and bustle of families enjoying a Sunday afternoon. The crowd included mostly families with children and babies. Some of the kids got really excited and were asking for autographs. I was most excited to discover that this was the actual site of an episode I had seen of The Amazing Race.

The particular week we went the wrestling association was honouring their retiring president. So in addition to the fighting we were witness to multiple speeches in inaudible spanish and lots of wrestler/old man hugging!

The fighting itself was insane, just like that of WWF. Body slams, flips, props and even fighting over the barriers into the crowd. All the wrestlers were dressed up, most of the fights included men, the Cholas fought towards the end of the evening when the crowd was at its most wild. The crowd were throwing popcorn, rotten fruit, chicken bones and bottles of soft drink! Needless to say I was sitting in the front row so I did get hit my the odd chicken bone and soft drink!!!

Overall this was an amazing experience of some good ol' fashioned family fun! haha.

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